Peacemaker Turkey faces new threat
By Mohammed A Salih
WASHINGTON - An intensifying fight between Turkey and a reorganized Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) threatens to introduce a new element of instability to the
Middle East. And this at a time when some of the most serious crises in the
region are taken on by regional actors, ironically with Turkey itself playing a
key role as a peace mediator.
That has left the United States in a dilemma over whether to continue with its
traditional policy of giving a green-light for a militaristic approach by
Turkey to deal with the long-standing Kurdish issue, or to pressure its
longtime ally to try harder for a political solution.
Turkish and PKK sources have claimed since the start of this
year to have killed hundreds and dozens from the other side, respectively,
signifying the resurgence of old hostilities in the region.
"We are at the threshold of a most critical era in terms of the PKK's
influence," wrote Mehmet Ali Birand, a prominent Turkish columnist, in the May
29 English-language Turkish Daily News, acknowledging the potentially
destabilizing consequences of the current conflict.
While Turkey appeared triumphant after the capture of PKK leader Abdullah
Ocalan in 1999, it has witnessed an escalation of attacks by Kurdish insurgents
since 2007, raising fears that the country might be plunged into a new era of
intra Turk-Kurd fighting reminiscent of the 1980s and the 1990s.
The fight between the PKK and Turkey has claimed about 40,000 lives over two
decades. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and dozens of
Western countries, including the US and European Union members.
Now, after years of relative inaction, all signs indicate the PKK has made a
strong comeback and is gaining renewed momentum in Turkey and abroad.
"It's clear that PKK has reorganized itself. I was in Europe recently ... and I
was amazed how much stronger the PKK is," said Aliza Marcus, a journalist and
author of Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.
"[PKK] has regained the support of many Kurds who are not necessarily outright
PKK supporters but do not see another option," Marcus said.
As Turkey made international headlines last week for its role in bringing Syria
and Israel, two longstanding foes, to the negotiating table, 1,000 Kurdish
figures, ranging from parliamentarians to PKK affiliates, called on the EU and
the US in a statement to appoint an international mediator to resolve the
Kurdish question in Turkey.
With Turkey's strategic weight increasing in the eyes of policy-makers in
Washington - among other things, due to the need for a more solid partnership
with Turkey over Iran's nuclear program and rising influence in the Middle
East, and US pressure on Turkey to contribute more troops to fight a resurgent
Taliban in Afghanistan - any prospects of instability within its North Atlantic
Treaty Organization ally's borders could significantly harm US designs for the
region as a whole.
There is a strong likelihood that the fighting may spill over to neighboring
Iraq, where the PKK's headquarters are based. The evidence for that is ongoing
as Turkey continues on a regular basis to conduct air raids into Iraq's
Kurdistan region in the north. That could drag Iraqi Kurds into the conflict as
well.
Turkey launched a ground incursion in February into Iraqi Kurdistan amid
initially consenting but increasingly apprehensive international reactions.
Fearing that the operation could destabilize the one relatively safe part of
Iraq, Washington finally stepped in and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates
anxiously warned Turkey that if it did not blend military operations with
"economic and political measures", then "at a certain point the military
efforts become less and less effective".
"That represented a frustration on the part of the US government that Turkey
had for long promised reforms, and the idea was that after Ocalan was captured
this would be the time for Turkey to make real changes when it came to the
Kurdish issue and instead, Turkey did nothing," said Marcus.
Meantime, the PKK can take on an even wider dimension by getting Iran involved
in the process, as a PKK-affiliated organization, known as the Party For Free
Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), is fighting Iran. PEJAK, which claims to have
received aid from Washington, said it had killed at least eight Iranian
Revolutionary Guards Corps in clashes inside Iran this week.
While that could be happy news to the US, it has the potential to speed up
Iranian-Turkish cooperation on the matter. That comes as the US tries to
distance Turkey from Iran as part of its policy to isolate Tehran at the
regional and international levels.
As the prospects of a bigger conflict inside Turkey and its spillover to
regional countries get graver, some are suggesting that Turkey has to take its
Kurdish issue more seriously. An early sign of that realization is beginning to
take shape in Turkey as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the
allocation of US$12 billion to develop the economy of the Kurdish-dominated
region of southeast Turkey.
Saying that Erdogan's economic development plan was not enough, Najmaddin Karim
- whose Washington Kurdish Institute was a signatory to the statement by the
1,000 Kurdish figures - noted, "The issue of Kurds in Turkey is a political
issue and an issue of identity and has to be addressed as such. The thing is
that the Kurdish question is like the genie that is out of bottle now and can't
be put back into the bottle anymore," said Karim.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
